The Arguments

Economic

Operating both a restaurant and pig farm we understand not only the high costs of commercial grain faced by farmers, but equally the cost of having our own catering waste collected in turn. The Pig Idea is common sense for everyone. This is what pigs are designed for, and why we first started to keep them.

Tim FinneyPig Farmers,Helen Browning Organics

Environmental

Humans have been recycling food waste by feeding it to pigs for thousands of years. Reviving this tradition will help to protect forests that are being chopped down to grow the millions of tonnes of soya we import from South America every year to feed our livestock.

Tristram StuartEnvironmentalist

Nutritional

Cutting down rainforest in the Amazon to grow pig feed for pigs in Europe makes no sense. Let’s save all our delicious food waste and feed it to the pigs. Not only will we be saving the rainforest (and slowing down climate change) but we’ll be bringing down the cost of pig feed and pork. Let them eat waste!

Thomasina MiersChef

Manifesto

The Pig Idea is a campaign by food waste expert Tristram Stuart and the Feeding the 5000 team in partnership with chef Thomasina Miers

At the heart of The Pig Idea are three major objectives:

Restore public confidence in the safe, efficient, cost-effective and environmentally friendly practice of feeding surplus food to pigs.

Encourage more use of already legally permissible food waste as pig feed – for example, bread, dairy, fruit and vegetables that are unfit for human consumption – by raising awareness and understanding of this option amongst supermarkets, food businesses, Animal Health officials and pig farmers.

Change European law to allow food waste including catering waste to be diverted for use as pig and chicken feed; and to introduce a robust legal framework for its safe processing and use to prevent the outbreak of animal diseases.

In achieving these objectives the following long-term goals will become a reality:

Liberate food supplies to help feed people

Lower feed costs for pig farmers

Reduce economic and environmental costs of disposing of food waste

Protect landscapes rich in biodiversity, such as the precious Amazon rainforest